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Adela Oliva Chavez

Adela Oliva Chavez

Pronouns: she/her
Journalists: Please use these pronouns when appropriate.

Tick-borne diseases, obligate intracellular bacteria, tick-pathogen interactions, host-pathogen interactions, extracellular vesicles, tick feeding, pathogen transmission, vaccine development, tick biology, Anaplasmosis

Assistant professor, Department of Entomology College of Agricultural and Life Sciences Work: 608-263-0834 — Home and cell phones available upon request olivachvez@wisc.edu Home page Twitter: @@chaveztick

Topics

  • What makes ticks so good at transmitting pathogens? Tick saliva can diminish immune responses enhancing pathogen establishment.
  • Can pathogens manipulate the salivary secretions of their vector? By hijacking extracellular vesicles, they appear to do so.
  • Can we exploit tick biology to design better vaccines? Using extracellular vesicles, we are discovering novel vaccine antigens.
  • How do ticks adapt to new environments and increase their survival to cold? What is the role of epigenetics in all of this?

Achievements

  • Has received several national and international awards, including "Young Scientist Ticks & Tick-borne Pathogens Award" and "Scialog Fellow: Mitigating Zoonotic Threats (MZT)".
  • Recognized as "College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Dean’s Outstanding Achievement Award for Early Career Research" at Texas A&M University, 2023
  • Co-author of 2 book chapters, including "Protozoan and Rickettsial Vaccines" in Veterinary vaccines for livestock by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), United Nations (UN).
  • Quote in "The ticks are winning" in the Atlantic. Appeared in NPR Short Wave and other podcasts, and news outlets.

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